A Trial Balloon

A small note in the Weatherford Democrat stated the Weatherford City Council is considering a two cent raise in the real estate tax mil-rate. The City Manager doesn’t think it will be possible to avoid it. Maybe, if no one notices this tax increase can go down quietly and the city management will have validated they are doing a great job. The tax payers should look at the matter more closely and they will conclude they are being ripped off by a city management hostile to the taxpayer.

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I own a home in Westover Village. It is just over one year old. It is not unlike the dozens of new homes recently built and currently being built around the city. These now homes will substantially expand the tax base and most of them will impose no additional burden on the city while increasing the city revenue for overpriced city services. Then there is the rain water tax increase also new this year. But let’s ignore this windfall to the city. The city certainly ignores it when crying poverty.

Let’s look closely at what the city will really glean from homeowners and see if you think the city is being well managed or it is just soaking the taxpayers.

At face value, this soon to be proposed increase appears as a two cent increase to the current 46.36 cent rate. A little over 4 percent. But look more closely, the city has just increased declared values by 2.9 percent before any change to the tax rate. One increase on top of the other is a form of compounding giving rise to a total tax increase of 7.34 percent to a home only one year old. This can hardly have any consideration for the taxpayer. The City Council needs to pay attention to what the real tax world is like and stop rubber stamping bad city management.

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Here is a great idea for Weatherford, if they need to raise funds – The doodling beauracrats could REDUCE the tax base !

A small town in Colorado is considering an ordinance that would create a license and bounty for hunters to shoot down drones.

“We do not want drones in town,” Phillip Steel, the Deer Trail, Colo., resident who drafted the ordinance, told Denver’s ABC7 affiliate. “They fly in town, they get shot down.”

Steel’s proposal, recently submitted to the town board, calls for a $25 drone hunting license and outlines “rules of engagement” for hunters looking to shoot down the unmanned aerial devices:

The Town of Deer Trail shall issue a reward of $100 to any shooter who presents a valid hunting license and the following identifiable parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle whose markings and configuration are consistent with those used on any similar craft known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government.

Steel said that while he’s never seen a drone flying in Deer Trail, the ordinance is a “symbolic” one.

“I do not believe in the idea of a surveillance society, and I believe we are headed that way,” he said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Deer Trail’s population was 559 in 2011.

“They’ll sell like hotcakes,” Steel said of the proposed drone license. “It could be a huge moneymaker for the town.”

David Boyd, one of Deer Field’s seven board members, supports the drone ordinance.

“Even if a tiny percentage of people get online (for a) drone license, that’s cool,” Boyd said. “That’s a lot of money to a small town like us. Could be known for it as well, which probably might be a mixed blessing, but what the heck.”

There’s even talk of the town—which claims to be home to “the world’s first rodeo”—hosting the world’s first drone hunt. “A skeet, fun-filled festival,” town clerk Kim Oldfield said.

Actually you are paying more to the City in other areas as well. It may not be called a tax but it is money coming out of your pocket. The water and sewage costs for Weatherford have gone up and will continue to rise on a stair step increase methodology over the next few years. The City Council has also added a new Storm Water Fund to your utility bill (actually it is not new but has been in existence for several months).

Here is the plan for your money and it has always been the plan….(1)Heritage Park is going to be renovated one way or another (2) Fort Worth Hwy is going to get a facelift with new medians, fancy lanscaping, and monument signs (similar to what Hudson Oaks has done recently).

Voter apathy tells those in power they can do whatever they want and people will accept it without complaint. This is why you see the Constitution being thrown under the bus time and time again while the same old Government Cronyism is allowed to flourish.

I overlooked the fact that Frank had already mentioned the storm water fund in his post. Sorry for missing it. One additional item to note is the cost of water to the City as Summer drought begins to be a regular occurrence for Texas. More droughts will equate to lower water levels in Lake Weatherford. This will give rise to the necessity for pumping water into Lake Weatherford from Lake Benbrook more frequently. Thereby, incurring pumping charges from Benbrook billed to Weatherford. This extra charge will be passed by the City of Weatherford to the utility customer.

Dredging Lake Weatherford might not provide a permanent fix to our future water problems but it will certainly ensure Lake Weatherford can hold more water thereby decreasing the frequency in pumping water out of Lake Benbrook. Just sayin………
for whatever it is worth.